August 13th 2014. The day our
other adventure started. We had to wake up early to get on the road to arrive
on time at Rendez-vous. That meant having a bagged breakfast.
The bus trip was a lot of the same thing,
hanging out, talking, listening to music, playing cards, etc. Though we had a
problem along the way. We missed our pit stop. Now it doesn’t seem like that
much of a problem, but with 40+ people who haven’t gone to the bathroom in a
while, it becomes one. There was a bathroom on the bus, but it was only one,
and it’s not the nicest facility. The line up started to grow longer too.
Lunch was nice. Instead of make your own
sandwiches we got Greek food! We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch outside before
having to hop back on the bus for the last little bit of the trip.
Now you see, it seems the BC bus has a hard
time getting to our end destination on time. Even at Evolve we always seem to
be a little late. That was exactly what happened today. The whole event started
at 3 pm and we were supposed to arrive at 2, but of course we got there at 3.
That meant we couldn’t go to our dorms right away because we had to attend the
Opening Worship. There was music and singing and the announcements of what was
expected in the days to come. After the worship, in our home groups, we brought
all our stuff to our dorm.
The meals at Rendez-vous were great. We ate
in a cafeteria and there were so many food choices, so meals were delicious.
They even had a chocolate milk dispenser.
That night we had a keynote speaker. His
name was Wab Kinew. He talked about reconciliation with the Aboriginals and how
his dad “adopted” the bishop from a catholic church. He also talked about the
effect residential schools had on his people. It was a really interesting talk
over-all. After that we had a home group meeting to talk about the speech we
had just heard from Wab Kinew. Lights out came next which was super great
after. Having a bed was awesome too!
~ S
August 14th, 2014. I’m sure we
all had a great sleep because we had actual beds. During the mornings you get a
bit of free time because breakfast starts at 7, and the worship doesn’t start
still 9. We had a singer named Coco Love perform and she was really amazing.
There was also a speaker. This one was Kofie Hope and he talked about getting
out in your community and just doing it, to not ask for permission first.
Workshops started today. You either had two
or three. You only had two if you went on an exposure trip in the afternoon.
There was a whole multitude of different workshops you could choose from.
Everyone who went seemed to like what they chose. After the first workshop it
was lunch and if you were going on an exposure trip you left early. A couple of
the trips were French and Métis heritage or a visit to the Forks. When all was
done and everyone was back at campus it was dinnertime and some free time.
There was worship like there was every night, and after there were a few social
events. They had a Coco Love concert and a talent show. A short home group
meeting came after. Lights out/quiet time came next, and again, really beds.
~ S
August 15th, 2014. There was
ANOTHER birthday today this time it was Annie’s! The morning was the same as
the other two mornings. Breakfast and free time before worship and songs. This
time though rEvolve performed for us! The speaker this morning was Nicole
Marquez. She was a dancer who accidentally fell off the roof of a apartment
building 6 stories tall. She was in the alley for 8 hours before someone found
her. Though the doctors said she would be paraplegic, she learned to walk
again. She talked about her story, and how she became a motivational speaker.
It was really interesting and really good. Our first workshop of the day came
after, then lunch and a nice free time break. You had one more “small” workshop
after lunch then they had big group workshops. A few of the options were a
First Nations blanket exercise, outdoor games, geocaching, and street art.
Dinner after that was delicious as usual,
and then we had worship. The social events were a rEvolve concert or a Manitoba
Social, which was just a dance. There was a short goodbye home group meeting
before bedtime, but everyone was so awake people didn’t really go to bed.
~ S
On the last day of Rendez-Vous, August 16th,
we had breakfast and then went to worship. At breakfast there was a surprise
flash mob with dancing and clapping to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams.
Personally I wasn’t there, but I heard it was exciting, energetic and fun. At
worship we listened to the music of rEvolve and Regenisis. We clapped, danced,
and sang along to songs such as Malembe and Hey Mama Heya. I really enjoyed
having the piano playing, but also the djembe, guitar, drums, bass, and of
course the egg shaker were great to have accompanying our singing. We listened
to the bible story of the Israelites journeying from Egypt and we learned that
the manna they ate as food was actually plant lice poo. It puts a different
perspective on the story doesn’t it? After saying goodbye to all the great
people we met, we boarded the bus and started a long bus ride to Saskatoon! We
said a special goodbye to Angus, Jillian, and Danielle who were flying from
Winnipeg instead of travelling home with us on the bus. We drove and drove on
the straight road to a town called Yorkton where we stopped for bowling and pizza.
The bowling was exciting and a certain person named Samantha managed to get
strike after strike. As we continued on to Saskatoon, I learned that it is
actually quite easy to fall asleep listening to the Vinyl Café on my IPod. We
reached Saskatoon at 10:30 that night and gratefully enjoyed the hospitality of
St. Martins United Church. Whoever baked the cookies that were served as a
snack that night is a cookie genius. They were so delicious! We finally went to
bed looking forward to a long awaited sleep and the next morning’s sleep in to
an amazing 8:00am!
Kelsey
The bus trip to Rendez-Vous 2014 and
Rendez-Vous itself has been so much fun and I am so thankful I got to go
again. Everyone on the bus bonded so
much and by the time we got to Rendez-Vous we were the group with the most
energy always ready for singing and dancing! Although I am sad to say goodbye
to everyone I have so many new memories and connections from all across the
country that I will cherish for along time to come.
-Eva
Rendez-vous was absolutely extraordinary!
I’m so glad, because the bus ride home means that all the fun doesn’t have to
be over yet. I must say I think my favorite part of the conference was the
moment I realized they had a chocolate milk machine in the cafeteria!!! Which
was closely followed by just about everything else that happened. All the
speakers were AMAZING, and I really enjoyed meeting new people. Now back on the
road you would think that we would all be almost dead after 8 days terribly
lacking in sleep, but the energy people have is impossible and I can’t help
getting caught up in it all. I think that has to be my favorite part of this
entire trip, the contagious energy.
~Michelle
So today we wrote a story and we needed to
share it…
There once was a pickle named john who had
a love for Poptarts. So one day he went on an adventure to go find some but he
ate an elephant, and then because the elephant was holy he went to heaven. When
there he ate 100 watermelons covered in salt and pepper (because there is
simply no other way to eat a watermelon). When he was finished he hopped on
over to the hospital to help his parents cope with the loss of his grandmother.
They were crying in McDonalds, because they ran out of BIG MACS and so they
left and went to the park. When they arrived they were really hungry so they
went to HFC (heavenly fried chicken) and then they toured the museum of life.
Where he asked “I’m sorry to disturb you, but where is the washroom?” His
companion answered with the call of a dove and ran to his lost lover, the
mermaid Ariadne. She was trapped in her father’s ice palace, pleading for
tomatoes to be brought. Instead potatoes were given and filled with anger the
palace people left, and decided to swim in the river. However, when they got
out they had forgotten everything, because they had swam in the river of
forgetfulness. Without knowing who they once were they resumed their life.
~Pheadra, Justice, Kelsey and Michelle
August 16th 2014, the last day
of Rendez-vous! It’s happy and sad at the same time because we get to go home,
but Rendez-vous is over. Same morning routine as every other morning. Though as
soon as we were done breakfast we had to pack up our things and bring it to the
University Center. The closing worship was a whole three hours today. There was
music, stories, prayers, dancing and goodbyes. 
August 17th 2014, another long
day of driving. We got to sleep in a little bit but not a whole lot, certainly
since we were sleeping on a church floor. At this point there isn’t a whole lot
to write about because most of the time we were sitting on a bus. A lot of card
games were played, songs were sung, food was eaten. 
